Tyson Fury can rule the world for years says Clinton Woods

Britain's Tyson Fury, left, punches Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko and in a world heavyweight title fight for Klitschko's WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts in the Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Germany

Published:17:00Thursday 03 December 2015

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Tyson Fury could rule the boxing world for at least five years after gate-crashing the heavyweight division with a brash, new look.

That’s the view of a man who knows what it takes to be a world champion - Sheffield’s own Clinton Woods.

Woods, though, admits he wouldn’t have gambled money at the bookies on a Fury win over Wladimir Klitschko, last weekend.

But he said the six feet nine inches-tall″Mancunian thoroughly deserved his points win and would become a lasting success for Britain and Ireland on the American stage and world-wide for years to come.

“I think Fury boxed perfectly against Klitschko - what he did was so clever” said Woods, who was IBF light heavyweight champion of the world between March 2005 and April 2008.

“He has a huge frame - he actually made Klitschko look small - yet he kept moving and the kept exactly the right distance for 12 rounds, which is hard when you are that enormous size.

“He can whack and he can use the jab and I think he surprised Klitschko in every way. He never lost his concentration and was never in any trouble. Klitschko got nowhere near him and at the end his face was a proper mess” said Woods, who runs a boxing and keep-fit gym in Gleadless.

“He is British and with his Irish heritage he will make an absolute fortune in America, where the heavyweight division must be the worst it has been in 50 years.

“I remember sparring in an America gym six or seven years ago and asking a trainer there who America would next come up with to rule the heavyweight division. ‘Nobody, there isn’t anybody’ the guy told me and he was pretty much right.

“Fury can keep doing what he is and be a massive star for five years or more. Who else could do what he did to Klitschko?” asked Woods.

“In our country, here, we have David Haye coming back and Anthony Joshua already being talked of as a future world champion, (after 14 fights in two years) and that is great..but it’s all happening because the division has nobody in it other than Fury and perhaps Deontay Wilder (current WBC title holder.)

“I love Fury’s personal style too. He is controversial - he just says what he wants. Yet every boxing fan I know who has met him says he has time for them and coems across as a nice bloke. His camp seem 100% behind him - he is going to be great for boxing and for Britain.”